VICIA BITHYNICA

Family and Genus:- See- LEGUMINOSAE/Sect. FABA

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Ervum bithynicum. Lathyrus bithynicus.

Meaning:- Vicia (L) Binder, to bind, a name used by the Roman naturalist and

philosopher Pliny for vetch.

Bithynica (L) From Turkey.

General description:- Subglabrous, weak-stemmed annual.

Stems:- 20-60 cm.

Leaves:-

1) Leaflets, 20-50 x 2-20 mm, 1-2(-3) pairs, narrowly elliptical, acute; tendril simple

or branched.

2) Stipules, conspicuous, obliquely ovate, dentate-lacerate.

Flowers:-

1) Solitary or paired in the upper leaf axils.

2) Peduncle, usually short but occasionally up to 5 cm.

3) Calyx tube, narrowly campanulate, slightly gibbous;

a) teeth, subequal, lanceolate-acuminate, somewhat longer than the tube.

4) Corolla, 15-20 mm:

a) standard, pale lilac-blue.

b) wings, and keel, whitish.

Fruit:-

1) Legume, 25-50 x 7-10 mm, brown or yellow, pubescent.

2) Seeds, smooth 4-7, hilum 1/7-1/6 of the circumference.

Key features:-

2) Seeds, smooth.

3) Leaflets, 1-3 pairs.

4) Wings, and keel whitish.

5) Stipules, denticulate to serrate, not bipartite.

Habitat:- Salines, freshwater meadows, seasonally wet spots in dry open shrubby

vegetation, open woodland, olive groves and field margins. 0-900 m.

Distribution:- throughout Greece. - Widespread in W Europe, the Mediterranean

area, Anatolia and eastwards to Afghanistan. Moderately distributed across Crete,

but more so in the west.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to early June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton